


August Already

by Taolicious



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-29
Updated: 2014-01-29
Packaged: 2018-01-10 11:17:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1159061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taolicious/pseuds/Taolicious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Title: August Already<br/>Pairing: Taohun/Taoris<br/>Genre: Angst, romance<br/>Rating: PG<br/>Summary: No amount of screaming and crying would bring him back to his side, on hand in Tao's, the other full of roses. No more sunshine and daisies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Tao watched helplessly from the side of the road as paramedics took the older man from the scene. No amount of screaming and crying would bring him back to his side, one hand in Tao's, the other full of roses. No more sunshine and daisies.  
  
Tao screamed, anyway, even as he felt the memories sliding away into familiar arms and a frantic voice calling his name.  
  
He awoke to a wide-eyed Sehun, still wearing Tao's pajamas after refusing to go home the night before. It took him a minute before he realized Sehun's mouth was moving. "--Alright? You were crying and yelling something in Chinese."  
  
The Chinese man shook his head, only wrapping the younger up in his arms and planting a kiss atop his head. "I'll tell you someday," he whispered into the mess of rainbow hair. Sehun nodded in understanding and leaned further into the embrace.  
  
Tao pulled Sehun down to the pillows, one hand around his waist, the other stroking his hair. He knew Sehun wondered, but it would take time before he would be able to tell the younger man about his past.  
  
~~  
  
Weeks passed and time carried on monotonously, Tao's job at the coffee shop keeping him occupied.  
  
When he arrives home one hot summer evening, he finds a confused Sehun staring at the calendar haphazardly hung on a cabinet door. "Something wrong?" Tao asks, wrapping his arms around the younger man from behind.  
  
"What are you doing tomorrow?" Sehun tilted his head back to look Tao in the face, but the panda's eyes focused on the date circled on the calendar.  
  
'August already?' he thought, squeezing Sehun tighter. "Nothing," Tao answers wistfully.  
  
"But you marked it." Sehun traces his fingers over the Chinese characters scribbled in Tao's handwriting beneath the date. "What's this, then? A birthday?"  
  
Tao simply shakes his head. "I'll tell you someday," he whispers against the pale, milky skin of Sehun's forehead.


	2. One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Where did you find this blanket?"

Four beers, three buttery nipples, and six Jack & Cokes had Tao curled up on the sofa, sobbing into an old fleece blanket decorated with pandas. He heard the door click open and immediately rolled off the couch, crawling his way to the entrance. Arms wrapped around him, but rather than pick him up, Sehun simply pulled Tao into his lap.  
  
Tao sighed at the feeling of fingers in his hair. He hiccuped as another bout of drunken emotion washed over him, and more tears slid down his reddened cheeks. "Shixun...why is it that every good thing comes to an end?"  
  
Sehun simply shook his head and pulled the drunk man closer. "I'll tell you someday."  
  
~~  
  
He wasn't quite sure how he ended up in bed with his old blanket, but he was fairly certain he wasn't alone. Tao glanced over to see Sehun curled around a pillow, comforter wrapped snugly around him.  
  
The onslaught of a pounding headache instinctively mad him groan. Tao reached for his glasses, but instead of finding them where he usually placed them, he found a glass of water and two aspirin tablets. He tok them gratefully, watching as Sehun stirred from his slumber.  
  
"Good morning, sunshine," the younger mumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.  
  
Tao smiled softly. "Wouldn't exactly call it 'good,' but I'll let you enjoy it."  
  
"Well maybe if you hadn't drank yourself into a stupor, it'd be a better morning for you."  
  
Tao nodded and slowly sat up. "Where did you find this blanket?" he asked quietly, picking at a loose thread on one panda's ear.  
  
"You were dragging it on the floor when you crawled into my lap last night," Sehun replied. "I hadn't seen it before that."  
  
Tao took a deep breath. He wouldn't be able to brush this conversation off, again. "I keep a lot of stuff locked up." He paused, trying to compose himself. He brought his knees to his chest and the blanket up under his chin. "There was a guy. He...he took me out a lot. Dinner dates, movies, walks in the park..."  
  
Sehun twined their fingers together in an attempt to ease Tao's nerves. "What was his name?"  
  
Tao squeezed Sehun's hand lightly. "He had a lot of names," he chuckled quietly. "When we met, he introduced himself as 'Kris,' but later on, he told me to call him 'Yifan.' That was when he said he liked me."  
  
Sehun nodded slowly. "So all of these things you keep locked up...are his?"  
  
Tao shook his head. "Most of them are gifts from him or presents for him that I never got the opportunity to give him." He looked down at his hands sadly, clutching the blanket between his fingers. "I loved him."  
  
With a small smile, Sehun tugged the blanket back and pulled the older man into his arms. "Tell me more another time, okay?" He rubbed Tao's back, kissing the top of his head.  
  
"I'll tell you someday," Tao repeated, releasing himself from Sehun's embrace, standing up, and folding the blanket before placing it back in the closet among his other belongings.


	3. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Something about how the little diamonds in it reminded him of my eyes...stupid."

Another vivid nightmare had Tao waking up in a cold sweat and digging through boxes stacked in his closet. He vaguely felt Sehun's hand on his back as he produced a large leopard plush and crawled back to the bed. He dove under the blankets, clinging to the plush, half of it hanging over the side of the bed.  
  
He almost didn't catch the sigh the younger heaved. Fingers threaded through his hair, but Tao's nerves refused to settle. "Just want him back," Tao tries to say, but it comes out in slurred Mandarin that he knows Sehun has no chance of understanding.  
  
Arms circle Tao's waist. Sehun was trying his best, Tao knows, but nothing would stop the dreams from returning the second his eyes slipped closed.  
  
Sehun hummed a tun ZiTao barely heard as he attempted to let his body relax into the younger's arms. "ShiXun..." Tao wasn't given an answer, but he know the other was listening. "ShiXun...rainbows fade, don't they?" Sehun's fingers flitted across his stomach. "Flowers wither and rainbows fade. Everything dies."  
  
Lyrics flowed with Tao's tears, Sehun's soft voice filling the space between them. "Talk to me. Shuo wo you zhe ge rong xing fan tian fu di zhao xing fu gei ni."  
  
Tao hugged his leopard tighter, pulling it against his body and sobbing into the synthetic fur. He wanted nothing more than to be holding YiFan in his arms, nose pressed to his collarbone. Instead, he pressed the plush to his face, attempting to get some sort of sleep before the bright, fiery ball in the sky rudely awakened him.  
  
~~~  
  
Instead o fthe sun, a loud cry starled him into consciousness. He didn't realize that it was his own voice until Sehun was clutching his face in his hands. "ZiTao!" The younger man shouted, trying to bring him back to reality. Tao stared into his shocked expression, not comprehending.  
  
"ShiXun?" he mumbled sleepily. Sehun's rainbow strands bobbed as he nodded.  
  
"I'm right here, Tao."  
  
"And the leopard..." Tao notes aloud, seeing the plush squeezed between them.  
  
"And the leopard," Sehun affirms, nodding again.  
  
ZiTao heaves a heavy sigh. The nightmares were getting worse, and it seemed nothing would help at this point. He'd failed his therapy sessions, and with his poor college student budget, there was no way he could afford to go back. "ShiXun, can I tell you a story?"  
  
~~~  
  
 _They strolled down the crowded street hand-in-hand, glancing in the windows of the many shops lining the road. A bright, glittering bracelet caught ZiTao's eye, and he stopped for a moment, looking for a price. Upon realizing there was not a tag for the item, he shook his head and took YiFan's hand once more, tugging him along._  
  
~~~  
  
"The next morning, I found it on my doorstep with a note tucked under it. Something about how the little diamonds in it reminded him of my eyes...stupid."  
  
Sehun squeezed the leopard plush. "So he was a giant ball of grease?" Tao chucked and nodded. "So what about this?" The younger tugged at an ear of the oversized animal.  
  
ZiTao shook his head. "Maybe after breakfast." He rolled out of the blankets, tugging the plush out of Sehun's arms and shoving it back in the dark closet. He could feel Sehun's pout, but he cherished the thing and couldn't bear to see it damaged.

**Author's Note:**

> Also posted on LiveJournal, AFF, and Tumblr.


End file.
